PHEASANTS. 
287 
place the whole brood under a frame, with a net over it, and 
a covered place for the hen, so as to confine her, hut leave 
the young Pheasants at liberty to leave or return to her at 
pleasure. Their food must consist of boiled eggs cut small, 
boiled milk and bread, alum curd, and ants’ eggs, — a little 
of each, and often. Rice may also he given, softened by 
boiling ; and instead of ants’ eggs, which in some places are 
not easily procured, or in addition to them, maggots from 
decayed flesh may be used. Artificial ants’ eggs may be 
easily made, composed of flour, beaten up with an egg and 
shell together, and the pellets rubbed between the fingers to 
a proper size. 
After two or three days, they will be acquainted with the 
call of their foster-mother, and they may then be allowed to 
run upon a grass-plot, or elsewhere ; the edge of a corn-field 
is very desirable, as they like the tall stems, and soon learn 
to pick up the green grains, — taking care to shift them with 
the sun, and guard them from cold winds. They ought not 
to be released in the morning before the sun is up, and they 
must be shut in with the hen in good time in the evening. 
When they are old enough, those that are to be turned out 
wild ought to be taught to perch. This is done by tying a 
string to the hen’s leg, and obliging her to sit in a tree all 
night. She should be placed there before sunset, and, if she 
falls down, she must be perseveringly replaced, till she become 
contented with her situation ; then the young birds will 
follow the hen, and perch with her, and in a few days will 
shift for themselves. If regularly fed, they will remain near 
any particular spot, and frequent a lawn or pleasure-ground 
as familiarly, and almost as fearlessly, as common poultry. 
An ingenious feeding-machine has been made, by which the 
grain may not only be kept dry, but reserved for the sole 
use of the Pheasants, or, at least, the larger sort of fowls ; 
as the lid, covering a trough containing the seed, opens and 
shuts by the weight of the Pheasant hopping on or off a 
perch connected with a crank. 
Pheasants have been considered, and with some reason, 
foolish birds, easily taken by every variety of snare ; but, 
